England’s Georgia Hall races up Women’s British Open leaderboard

KINGSBARNS, Scotland – Georgia Hall only stresses about the little things in life.

Just as well, she stands on the verge of possibly the biggest win of her life. She’s in position to win the $3.25 million Ricoh Women’s British Open.

The 21-year-old reeled off four birdies in a row from the second hole, a first in her career, to help her post a 5-under-par 67 to get to nine under after 36 holes. She made it to 10 under but bogeyed the par-4 16th hole.

“I’ve never had four birdies in a row,” Hall admitted.

The native of Bournemouth, England took advantage of easy second round conditions. She teed off at 7:14 a.m. with Florentyna Parker and Gerina Piller when the weather was at its most benign. No wind and soft greens allowed Hall to fire at the flags.

“I try and play level-headed all the time, whether I get a birdie or a bogey,” she admitted. “I’m just trying to get as many birdies as I can out there. The course was quite scoreable today because it wasn’t that windy.

“I’m playing really well. I’m especially putting good. So that is certainly helping me at the moment.”

Hall only really made one mistake. Her tee shot at the 16th ended up in a pot bunker and cost her the only bogey of the day.

Even that couldn’t knock her off her stride.

“I’ve been kind of the same since I started when I was seven. There’s no point in getting angry because it’s just going to make things worse.

“I stress about a lot of things: like making sure I get here on time, and making sure I’m on the tee 10 minutes before and stuff like that. I like to be on time for everything. Nothing big.”

She’s been timely this year. She’s leading the European Solheim Cup Points Race and will make her Solheim debut in the match that begins August 14 at Des Moines Golf & Country Club.

She could begin her first Solheim Cup as Ricoh Women’s British Open champion.

Hall will have to stay ahead of countrywoman Charley Hull if she’s to come out on top. While Hall played the first five holes in four under, Hull went the other way. She made three straight bogeys from the second to drop from four under to one under.

Such is Hull’s talent that she was able to play the next 14 holes in four under to shoot a 71 and get to five under.

“I’m quite pleased,” Hull said. “The bogeys early on, I didn’t really do much wrong. I just kind of missed a couple of putts.

“I had fun. I’m quite happy the way I finished. The birdie on 17 made my round a lot better.”

Fun isn’t the word Laura Davies would use to describe her day. She began on four under and reached seven under after 12 to be just three shots off the lead. Then she blew up by dropping five shots in her last six holes, including a bogey, double bogey, bogey finish. She shot 74.

So there’s a good chance of the first English winner since Karen Stupples in 2004. Barring a miracle, just don’t expect Dame Laura to be standing with the trophy on Sunday night.